We had a big argument on gun handling at the gunshop - opinions?

This is a discussion on We had a big argument on gun handling at the gunshop - opinions? within the Defensive Carry & Tactical Training forums, part of the Defensive Carry Discussions category; I went to a gun show Saturday. As I'm standing in line for a ticket, there's a fellow ahead of me. He's carrying a 9 ...

I went to a gun show Saturday. As I'm standing in line for a ticket, there's a fellow ahead of me. He's carrying a 9 mm Star that looks like a 1911. The magazine is out but the action is closed so God only knows if there's a round in the chamber. He's carrying it with his finger through the trigger guard, spinning it and waving it to and fro sweeping everybody in the crowd in the process. I'm constantly dumbfounded by the way people handle guns in gun shops and at gun shows.

Well based on my reading of the OP I agree 100% with you about not sweeping somebody. Now that is not hte real issue with your lady. She feels you embarassed her in public and is not happy about it. Thus the unwillingness to budge off of her point. Thats how my wife would be not so mad that she was wrong but that I corrected her in front of other people.

Well based on my reading of the OP I agree 100% with you about not sweeping somebody. Now that is not hte real issue with your lady. She feels you embarassed her in public and is not happy about it. Thus the unwillingness to budge off of her point. Thats how my wife would be not so mad that she was wrong but that I corrected her in front of other people.

Look at it this way... everyone in the store is not going to know that the firearm was cleared.. for all they know, it could be a robbery.. about 90% of people in a gun store carry concealed... now.. if someone were to glance over and see her pointing the gun at the clerk.. do you know how many people would draw? This could go south fast.

I'm new here, and probably should not jump in, but honestly scenarios like this torque me to no end - they give the impression that women, generally, don't know how to handle weapons. Innocent mistakes kill innocent people every single day. If she doesn't know by now not to point any firearm ever, at something she doesn't intent do kill or destroy, don't take her in the gun shop. Period. Until she has learned that lesson.

Surely the clerk was not alright with this? Did s/he say anything? My favorite local gun dealer would have had that weapon pointed away from him so fast that you wouldn't be ready for the lecture that was coming.

scenarios like this torque me to no end - they give the impression that women, generally, don't know how to handle weapons.

While threads like this SHOULD 'torque you to no end, I wouldn't necessarily say that the thread gives the impression that women don't know how to handles weapons, but rather that most people in general don't know how to handle weapons. The customer in this could have just as easily been a man. As far as the comment about wives not liking to be corrected by their husbands in public, I think that the opposite is equally true.

If she doesn't know by now not to point any firearm ever, at something she doesn't intent do kill or destroy, don't take her in the gun shop. Period. Until she has learned that lesson.

THEN she said 'ok (smartass) what if I took the just untagtied gun and put in the empty mag and pointed it at my own head and pulled the trigger'.

I really don't quite know what to think about her making that kind of statement.

I'm not sure I'd ever be comfortable with her around guns again.

It appears she was really seriously offended at your correction of her actions. Clearly a lack of maturity, and appropriate amount of respect for firearms.

And if there's one thing firearms demands, is a level of maturity and respect for the gun.

She may have handled guns all her life, and more than you have, but without a doubt, she has picked up some bad habits and developed a rather cavalier attitude about it.

If I were in a relationship with someone like that, that would have to change, or I wouldn't really have enough in common with them to continue the relationship. But that's me.

I don't have a problem with her pointing the gun at someone. People have lapses in judgement all the time. I have a problem with her whole demeanor regarding the mistake, and her indignation at you pointing out and correcting her oversight.

You have the makings of a turf war there, and that isn't good for any relationship.

One time I was at a local shop and a customer asked the guy behind the counter to see a .22. The looked at the gun while the slide was locked back, he then reached in his pocket and pulled something out. He then tried to place a round in the chamber. The guy behind the cpunter quickly grabbed him and the gun, stopping him. The guy looked shocked and said he just wanted to see if it fit. Unbelievable.

Oh, another time a guy was looking at a rifle with a Trijicon 1-4 (IIRC). He was a couple feet away from me and as he was looking through the optic scanning around the room (instead of just over it when you're scanning but that's another discussion), and was swinging over to my face. If I would have been a foot closer he would have hit me. I grabbed the barrel and kind of pushed it. He looked at me like I did something wrong! I could talk for hours about dumb stuff gun shop employees have done, but really how much does one expect it terms of knowledge when they're paid the same as the kids at Burger King. I'd give anything for us to have a shop like G and R Tactical or Gun Gallery in Jacksonville. We have a class 3 that's pretty good, but it's a smaller shop.

This is a class III dealer and the only shop I frequent. I've found hanging out at gun shops is potentially bad for your health. Often times the guy behind the counter is as bad or worse than the guy shopping for his first handgun. It's unbelievable how unsafe and uneducated many of these people are, but I guess that's reality.

For the OP, obviously you never sweep anyone with a weapon. There is never an ok time for this as you know. My concern is the comments about how you tend to point the gun to your left 90º. When your magazine runs dry, you should be bringing the gun into your workspace (the area that's basically a 18" box/cube in front of your face) rotating it to the side where you're basically looking through the gun and can still see your target. You'll be rotating the gun about 30º to 45º, just enough that bring a magazine up from your belt will be a smooth direct action, you'll have about a 90º or less bend in your elbow.

No matter the movement or position of your weapon, it should be second nature for the muzzle to be facing downrange. If I have the handgun in a compressed high or low ready, the muzzle is facing forward at about a 45º angle up or down. Should I make movement behind someone or someone moves in front of me, the muzzle is then move to a 90º downward angle, plane and simple. With enough practice on this, you shouldn't have to think about it, you'll just instinctively not sweep those around you.

If it happens, it happens though. I've been swept a few times at classes with carbines. I don't like it, but things happen now and then. If my wife was to make the comment quoted by Bark'n… Well, I don't know what I'd do. My wife wouldn't do that. Heck, my 6 year old wouldn't do that. She needs to get to a handgun class and maybe needs to see some photos or video of what a handgun can do.

Proven combat techniques may not be flashy and may require a bit more physical effort on the part of the shooter. Further, they may not win competition matches, but they will help ensure your survival in a shooting or gunfight on the street. ~Paul Howe

I have owned weapons of one kind or another ever since 1939 and carried open for more years than most here have lived.

About a year ago, I decided life is getting so complicated that I need a CCW so I signed up for one.

The last night, after two days of preaching safety, the instructor is showing us various handguns that he deemed suitable for self defense and the various ways one could carry them for concealment.

He had three hand guns hidden on his person.
So he begins pulling them out one by one to impress us with how well they were concealed.

The last was a revolver, which he slowly swept over me and ended up with it pointed at me. I pointed out to him that he had violated the #1 safety rule that one will not point any weapon at anything they don't intend to shoot.

His reply was that the room was crowded and there was no other way.

Since I learned long ago that you fail if you tell the professor he does not know his subject, get fired if you tell the boss he is stupid, flunk if you tell the check pilot he can't fly, the best thing to do at this point is keep quiet and hope you get out of the class in one piece.

So I did not point out to him that he could have pointed it at the floor or the ceiling.

So he moves from the original position to another in the room and lays that damn revolver down on the table and guess what?

IT IS STILL POINTED AT ME!!!!!

And this guy is teaching a NRA approved course.

When I go to the gun stores, I watch for him. If I ever bump into him, I promise he will get an education.

Proven combat techniques may not be flashy and may require a bit more physical effort on the part of the shooter. Further, they may not win competition matches, but they will help ensure your survival in a shooting or gunfight on the street. ~Paul Howe

People get shot every year at gun shows because of negligent discharges.

Just because it is allowed at xyz does not mean it is something you should do and it does not mean that is good practice.

Show her the video TN_Mike posted last week about the four rules.

I will not have an ND that takes the life of another on my conscience; she doesn't seem to mind that prospect; I would not be around this person when they have a firearm. When I go the armorers courses we've got a room of 30 people sitting next t0 each other in 30 chairs about 5-6 rows deep, it's a crowded room, there are strict rules on ammo entering the room, not one person points an assembled firearm at another person, there is space between the tables and maturity in actions and respect for the tools. While at gun stores I do maneuver so that I am not being swept, I do not get involved in other peoples ability to safely handle the firearm, that's what the store employees are there for and it's their house their rules not mine, and frankly going through a Gander or Cabela's I'd never get to look at anything I'd be spending all day giving safety lessons.

BTW who need to turn the gun 90 degrees to change mags? I have thumbs and a second hand.

While the OP is technically correct it's not so much what you say as it is in how you say it. Dealing with a significant other has different rules than dealing with most other people. Winning a battle isn't worth losing the war.